


Allura, Shiro, and the Great Comet of 1812

by emospaceboi



Series: Voltron Musical AUs [1]
Category: Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - Malloy, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voyná i mir | War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Genre: Adam and Shiro have a bad marriage, Adam is a slut, Allura & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Allura & Lance (Voltron) are Siblings, Allura (Voltron)-centric, Allura is very naive, And Godfather, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Shiro (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coran is Allura (Voltron)'s Uncle, Established Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Established Allura/Matt, F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, I love my boy, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Lance (Voltron) is so Pure, Lotor is kind of a dick, M/M, No Smut, No Voltron Lions, Panromatic Shiro (Voltron), Pining Allura (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Protective Coran (Voltron), Romantic Fluff, Samuel Holt is abusive, Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess, Sorry but i didnt have anyone for Hélène, Suicide Attempt, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, besides my voltron version of bare: a pop opera, but I love him, check out that musical and the fanfic plz, i love him tho, i ship it tho, i still love him too, just needed someone for Prince Bolkonsky, mentioned though, pining adam, this is the only time allura isnt a lesbian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-04 20:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 17,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15848439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emospaceboi/pseuds/emospaceboi
Summary: Allura, the young, naïve princess of Altea, is betrothed to the love of her life, Prince Matthew Holt. Before they get married, Allura and her brother, Lance, go to live with their godfather, Coran for the year. But when a handsome young man with long white hair makes it his goal to seduce the young princess, she knows it could potentially ruin her life. But why can't she love two people?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Ignore the beginning it's hard to make that a chapter. I'm literally just copying and pasting and changing names.

There’s a war going on out there somewhere. And Matt isn’t here.

And this is all in your program. You are at the opera. Gonna have to study up a little bit if you wanna keep with the plot.Cuz it’s a complicated Russian novel. Everyone’s got nine different names. So look it up in your program. We’d appreciate it, thanks a lot.  
  
Allura is young. She loves Matt with all her heart.  
  
She loves Matt with all her heart. Allura is young and Matt isn’t here.  
  
Lance is good. Allura’s brother and closest friend.  
  
Allura’s brother and closest friend. Lance is good, Allura is young, and Matt isn’t here.  
  
Coran is old-school, a grande dame of Altean. Allura’s godfather, strict yet kind.  
  
Allura’s godfather, strict yet kind. Coran is old-school, Lance is good, Allura is young and Matt isn’t here.

Lotor is hot. He spends his money on women and wine.  
  
He spends his money on women and wine. Lotor is hot, Coran is old-school, Lance is good, Allura is young and Matt isn’t here.  
  
Adam is a slut. One of Lotor's old friends, married to Shiro.  
  
Lotor's old friend, married to Shiro. Adam is a slut, Lotor is hot, Coran is old-school, Lance is good, Allura is young, and Matt isn’t here.  
  
Acxa is fierce, but not too important. Lotor’s friend, a crazy good shot.  
  
Lotor’s friend, a crazy good shot. Acxa is fierce, Adam is a slut, Lotor is hot, Coran is old-school, Lance is good, Allura is young and Matt isn’t here.  
  
Chandeliers and caviar, the war can’t touch us here.

Minor Characters:  
  
Old Prince Holt is crazy, and Katie is plain. Matt’s family, totally messed up.  
  
Keith is awkward, Lance's lover and soon-to-be fiancé.

And Varkon’s just for fun!  
  
Varkon’s just for fun! Varkon is fun, Keith is awkward, Holt is crazy, Katie is plain, Acxa is fierce, Adam is a slut, Lotor is hot, Coran is old-school, Lance is good, Allura is young, and Matt isn’t here.  
  
And what about Shiro? Dear, bewildered and awkward Shiro? Rich, unhappily married Shiro? What about Shiro?


	2. Shiro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro reflects on his poor life choices.

It dawned on Shiro suddenly, and for no obvious reason, that he can't go on living as he is.  
  
The happiness of life has vanished, and only the skeleton remains. It's unexpectedly vile. Shiro used to be a much better man.  
  
But if he were to walk out into the street, start conversations with people, they would call him a great man. Their merry feasting crank. Their most dear, most kind, most smart and eccentric, warm-hearted man of the old school. Shiro guessed that much was true. There were whispers amongst people, saying "His purse is always empty becauseit's open to all," referencing his charity work and kindness towards everyone. And there were those who said he was just one of a hundred sad "old" men (he was really twenty-five, but acted as if he was fifty) living out their final days in Altea.  
  
Shiro knew that he drinks too much. It shamed him; right now, his friend fights and bleeds for the most noble cause, freeing the universe of Galra, while all Shiro did was sit at home and read hours at a time. He was abandoned to distraction, and one could say "He drinks to forget, but he always remembers."  
  
Henever thought that he'd end up like this.  
  
Many women pitied him because he's married. But not in love.  
  
Shiro was once walking in the street, and he heard one woman mutter "Il est charmant," and another tell him, "Il n'a pas de sexe."  
_He is charming; he has no sex._  
  
There was a ringing in his head, a sickness in the world. Shiro knew that everyone knows but pretends that they don't see. They say "Oh, I'll sort it out later," but later never comes.  And how many men before, good men of different races, believing in goodness and truth entered that door with all their teeth and hair, and left it toothless and bald?  
  
Those empty and stupid contented fellows, satisfied with their place. Shiro was different from them. His husband no longer loved him, but since this is eighteenth century Russia they can't get a f*cking divorce (and technically thy shouldn't even be married but this is fanfiction). Shiro still want to do something.  
  
He wondered if other people had struggles like this, too?

Shiro pitied them.


	3. Altea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Allura visit their godfather, Coran.

It was snowing on the part of Arus inhabited by the Alteans. It was winter, after all. The princess thought that it was absolutely beautiful. The carriage pulled up to a manor, and Allura dragged her brother out the door. She was greeted by the strict, yet kind, face of her godfather, Coran. She curtsied to him, addressing him by his full name. "Coran Troynar Dmitryev."   
  
The redheaded man smiled, bowing to the princess. "Ah, Princess Allura Helvo Rostova of Altea."

She laughed. "Allura is fine, Coran. You know this."

"That I do, my darling, but using your formal name is fun," the older man explained, causing Allura to laugh even more. She leaned into him for a hug, and Coran embraced the young girl. She had several fur coats on, and Lance a couple too.  
  
The younger Cuban boy nervously smiled at the man with the orange mustache. "Hey, Coran."  
  
"Hello Prince Lance William McClain Rostov of Altea," he said, inviting the siblings into his home.

The boy laughed. "Lance, please.

"Welcome to this grand, old city," the eccentric man announced, helping the prince and princess out of their clothes. "Did you know that this is home to old, and dead, counts and countesses?"

"No," Lance called out. He had tanned skin and dark hair, but his eyes were a brilliant blue color. His sister, however, had long light blue curls cascading over her shoulders, dark skin, and a unique pattern to her blue eyes. "I didn't know that, but I'd like to learn a lot about this place! From what we've seen, its beautiful."

Coran nodded, twirling his mustache. "I'll take you to your room, then. Hope you don't mind sharing one," he turned to his goddaughter, Allura, and touched her on the cheek lightly. The girl grinned.  
  
"My brother and I are so pleased to be with you while we wait on my fiancé fighting in the war," she told him, eyes bright as she talked about Matt, her one true love. "And for his boyfriend to propose."

Allura snickered as Lance muttered "shut up" and hid his burning face in his hands. Coran ruffled the boy's hair.

"Bring in their things!" he called to his servants. He paid them all for their service, as he and King Alfor both despised slavery and wanted to outlaw it. "Get the samovar ready!  
These two are half frozen, it's freezing out there!" Then he turned to the teenagers, winking. "I'll add some rum on the tea. Don't tell your father!"

The siblings giggled, promising not too. Coran always let them get away with things like this.  
  
"Allura, my darling," he smiled at her, handing her a teacup once a maid set it on the table, along with some rum. "You've grown plumper and prettier."  
  
"My cheeks are glowing from the cold," she said blushing, gazing at Coran with kind, glittering eyes.  
  
He dropped them off at a good sized room, along with their luggage. "I'll leave you to get used to your room! Goodbye now!"  
  
Lance found an old suite, and the boy smirked putting it on. Allura saw what he was doing, and found an old dress to wear. "Princess Allura Helvo Rostova," he said in a false, snotty voice.  
  
"Prince Lance William McClain Rostov," she mocked, adding stuffiness in her voice.  
  
Her brother laughed. "The snow made you look even more beautiful, I'm sure _Matt_ would've wanted to see you."  
  
She giggled. "Brother dear, I love you and will always trust you," Allura then groaned. Matthew Holt had to wait an entire year to marry her, since his father refused to let them marry until she's at least seventeen (Allura was sixteen, Lance fifteen). And he also has to fight in a war, adding even more time until they could get married. "All of this waiting is killing me... Why do we have to be at war? Why isn't he here?" She sighed, falling backwards. "I want him now, at once. I want to embrace him and cling to him. Only you could probably understand," she sat against the headboard. "I love him so much, I know him. Matt loves me only," she smiled, giddy at this. "He'll come home one day, and he'll take me away. I want nothing more," Allura then turned to her brother. "So what about you and Keith? Do you see marriage happening soon?"

Lance blushed, but he shrugged. Allura was the first person he came out to as bisexual, and she'd been so supportive of him. She'd been there when he came out to their parents (they were all so supportive- Alfor and their mom, Queen Covanso, had given Lance the love he needed during that time), and brought home a half-Galran half-human boy named Keith, announcing that they were courting. Allura had seen him staying up late at night, writing letters to him. She knew how much they loved each other, and she knew that it was obvious Keith would propose soon. It had been two years, longer than most courtships before marriage. "I don't know."

"If it isn't soon," Allura told him. "I'll slap him."  


* * *

  
"First thing tomorrow is that we're going to Madame Carremo's. Dresses for Allura, some nice tuxedos for Lance, we'll buy what we can afford," Coran told them, from the doorway. "Then dinner and a game of Boston. Then you'll read to me while I knit! It will be wonderful to have you here instead of a bunch of gossips and crybabies."

Lance laughed. Him and Allura loved gossiping. It was their favorite thing to do. But Coran didn't need to know that.

"Well, I congratulate you and Matthew," he told the soon-to-be-bride, who was already blushing. "You've hooked a fine fellow! It's one of the finest matches in the entire galaxy."  
  
Allura blushed happily.  
  
"But his father, Prince Holt, much dislikes his son's marrying. The old fellow's crotchety!" the teens laughed. "Of course Prince Matt's not a child, but it's not nice to enter a family against a father's will. One wants to do it peacefully and lovingly. You're a clever girl," the redhead patted the fourteen year old's head. "Just be kind to Matt's sister, and when the sister loves you, so will the father, and all will be well."

The princess nodded, planning to meet with Princess Katie soon.


	4. The Private and Intimate Life of the House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What really happens, behind closed doors, at the Holts’.

Samuel Holt had aged, he'd aged so very much. He fall asleep at the table, his napkin dropping to the floor. He was full of childish vanities, he forgot things, and he lived in the past. Yes, he's aged so _very_ much.  
  
People enjoyed him, though. Sam comes in for tea in his old-fashioned coat and powered wig, and he told stories and uttered scathing critiques.  
  
The Holt's palace was an old-fashioned house (for the most part), with its gigantic mirror, powered footmen, and this stern, shrewd old man. Sam felt like he was now just a relic of the past century. His gentle daughter was a majestic and agreeable spectacle, even if she was born a boy, though that really wasn’t a factor.   
  
But besides the couple hours during which they have guests, there are also twenty-two hours in the day, during which the private and intimate life of the house continues.  
  
"Bring me my slippers!" Sam yelled at his daughter, who ran into his room.  
  
Princess Katie, a bright young girl just past the beginning of her transition from male to female, always tried to make her father proud of her. She wore a green dress, her long brown hair falling over her shoulders, and glasses perched on her nose. Katie had her father's slippers in her hand, and she knelt to the ground and put them on his feet. "Yes father, yes father."  
  
"Now bring me my wine!" He demanded. Katie internally groaned. The wine cellar was in the room right next to him, why couldn’t he do it himself? Her father annoyed her sometimes.   
  
But she would never disobey him. "Yes father, I will."  
  
Going to the wine cellar, Katie sighed. She never went anywhere, she was never invited. Those who knew her as Pidge were (mostly) disgusted by her decision to be herself, and she could never go out and meet new people, for who would take care of her father? No one here could.  
  
"Father, I was thinking, since I have no friends-" Katie began, pouring her father's wine in a cup for him, but she was interrupted.  
  
"Girl, all my friends are dead!" Sam yelled, spilling his wine on himself. Katie sighed, starting to clean up the mess. No one would ever want to deal with his drama. "All my friends are dead."  
  
Time was moving, and it was now or never. Katie could feel her fate slipping past her.  
  
"Silence! Silence!" Sam yelled at the young girl, yet he hadn't said anything.  
  
"Yes father."  
  
"Shut your damn mouth," Katie winced at the time of his voice. "Shut your damn mouth! I can hurt you..."  
  
Katie could also hurt her father, in an act of self defense. But she never ever ever ever would. This was just how it was. It was just how _he was_. Katie was always to blame. Sam could beat her, or treat her like a dog. He could make her fetch wood or water. And that's just how it was. But she still loved her father; so much.  
  
Katie sat in the chair that was in her room, pulling out a science book. She'd always been fascinated by space, never knowing why. She'd read every book available on the topic, and she spent all her time in learning how to build things. It wasn't as if there was anything else she could do. Katie had already abandoned any hope of getting married and having her Prince Charming rescue her.  
  
"Ah! What's this, a young suitor?" Sam asked a young man with dark skin. He was a larger man with his weight, but he also had a lot of muscle in his arms. Katie, watching from the stairs, found him very attractive. "Ah, come in, come in."

The boy fiddled with his thumbs. "Um, hello, sir. My name is Hunk Garrett, and I'd like to ask you for your daughter's hand-"

"Don't sit down. Why would I ever let you marry my daughter? She’s way too good for you. I would never permit you to take her away from me! Now be gone, be gone, be gone!"

Hunk glared at the elderly man, clenching hi fists. But he left the house, slamming the door behind him. Sam opened it to yell "And don't come back!"

* * *

"They'll like me..." Allura muttered to herself, staring out the window at the cold snow. "They have to like me. Everyone has always liked me!"

* * *

But maybe Sam should marry someone himself. Some cheap French thing. He had a maid, Ezor. She was absolutely beautiful, a nice curvy body, and she always wore rather scandalous outfits. Today she wore a simple maid outfit. A white headband sat on her head, black thigh highs on her legs, a black skirt that barely covered her curvy ass, and a top that showed a lot of cleavage, completed by an apron. Ezor knocked on the door to Sam's room. He opened the door, immediately knew what was about to happen, and let her in. "Ah, come in my dear, come in my dear, come in."  
  
And he drew her to him, kissing her hand. The man embraced her affectionately, but before things progressed further, Sam noticed that the door was open, Katie watching the scene in absolute horror and disgust. She flushed and run out of the room, wanting to purify her mind.  
  
"Come back here!" He yelled, running after his daughter. He caught her crying in the garden. "Let an old man have his fun. Now wipe away your tears. I don't want your tears."  
  
"On that horrible woman...she's vile and inhuman!" Katie exclaimed, leaning into her father. "She's using you, Papa. She wants your money, not you. To take advantage of your weakness like that... It's disgusting." Katie's voice broke off, sobbing into her hand.  
  
"It's my money and I'll throw it where I want," Sam told the princess sternly, and Katie flinched. He made Ezor sound like a prostitute. "Not at you! And not at Matthew's harlot, either! It's my money, my money, mine! All mine!"  
  
Katie began fearing for her safety as his anger progressed. "You insolent girl!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Katie felt tears pouring down her cheeks at his words. "Where- Where- Where are my glasses?" Sam demaned. Katie gulped as she was backed into a corner. "Where are, where are they? Where are my glasses?" Katie reached forward, but stopped when she saw her father's frightened face. "Oh God- Oh God I'm frightened. Oh God I've- I've aged, I've aged so very much. Oh God I'm frightened. Where- Where are my glasses? Where are my, where are my- WHERE ARE MY GLASSES?!?!?!?!"

Katie winced as Sam's palm came into contact with her cheek. She choked down a cry, pressing her hand onto it.   
  
There were there upon his head. The girl pulled him down onto his nose. The pride of sacrifice gathered in her soul. They were there upon his head, and he hit her!  
  
Sam forgot things, he lived in the past. He fell asleep at the table, his napkin dropping to the floor, his shaking head sank over his plate, He was old and feeble, and if Katie were to dare to judge him, she would disgust herself.


	5. Allura and Holts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura visits her future in-laws.

"May I present the Princess of Altea, Allura Rostova!" Rolo announced, walking the beautiful princess   
  
"Oh. Oh, hello," Katie said in a quiet voice, gesturing for her to come into her home. "Won't you come in?"  
  
"Hello!"Allura exclaimed, blushing at how uncomfortable the situation was.   
  
Allura and Katie awkwardly moved within the castle in silence, until they reached the table. The Altean sat opposite the human, a long distance away.  
  
And from the first glance, Katie did not like Allura. She was far too fashionably dressed in her blue dress with gold trimmings, and with the upper part white and light blue sleeves. And her golden tiara with a gem sitting atop her head, a beautiful contrast with her dark skin as her light blue curls fell over her shoulders, two strands tied together behind her head. Katie took note of her smiling very wide and awkwardly. The human princess found her far too frivolous and vain. But that wasn't just it; she was jealous. Jealous of her beauty, youth, and happiness. She didn't understand her brother's love for her. But Matt wasn't one known to love someone for no reason. Of all the boyfriends and girlfriends he'd had, there was not one who he didn't have a connection with.  
  
And Prince Holt did not wish to see her. Katie knew at any moment he might indulge in some freak-show.  
  
_"_ I'm sorry the Prince is still ailing," Allura said, trying to break the tension.  
  
Prince Holt's voice could be heard from the distance. "Songstress!"  
  
Allura was not afraid of anyone, but such hesitation, such unnatural manners...from the first glance she did not like Princess Katie. She was too plain and affected, insolent and dry. The Altean shrunk into herself and assume an offhand air.  
  
Which alienated Katie even more. Thy were constrained and strained, both finding the other irksome.  
  
"Oh!" Sam shouted. He had decided to enter the room, in his underwear. It was a sign of disrespect to Allura, telling her that she was not worthy enough for the man to be wearing clothes.  
  
Katie looked disgusted and embarrassed. "Papa!"  
  
"Oh, so this is Allura. Not much to look at," tutted the mean old man in his underwear. "I never dress for children or peasants."  
  
He looked at her once, from head to toe, and left muttering.

Allura stood up, cheeks burning from the embarrassment and shame stirring inside her. "I must take my leave."

"Please wait," Katie exclaimed, grabbing the princess' wrist. "Dear Allura, I want you to know how glad I am my brother has found happiness."

"Is that the truth?" the Altean snapped, angry when Katie did not reply. "I think it is not convenient to speak of that now,  _Dear Princess_ ," she said with, in the human girl's hears, such dignity and coldness."

Allura ran through the doors, throwing herself into the snow, sobbing. What has she said, what has she done? She was crying like a child, and there was no way to make the tears stop. Oh, they were so awful! It all hurt so terribly, and to think the love of her life was raised there... The young girl curled her body up, vulnerable and scared about the future of her relationship.  
  
"Matt," she cried out. "Where are you?"


	6. No One Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scared and alone, Allura reflects on how she met Matt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my favorite song in Great Comet. But the Philippa Soo vers. is the best, no one can beat her. The song was designed for her voice and it was amazing.

Allura looked up at the moon. It reminded her of when she met Matt. She smiled as the memories resurfaced.  
  
The first time she heard his voice, moonlight burst into the room. And Allura I saw his eyes, and she saw his smile, and it seemed as if the world had opened wide,likethe world was inside of her.  
  
Her parents had been hosting a ball. Her mother, Covanso, had been worried about the expenses, but Alfor waved it off. Prince Matthew had been staying with them, and he'd been fascinated with the beautiful princess, especially after he caught her leaning over the balcony, simulating flight. She was wither brother, who was freaking out over her safety.

"You're such a baby," she told the boy, catching her breath.

Lance huffed. "Well excuse me for caring about your well being..."

A young boy walked in. He was wearing a tuxedo, and looked awkward in it. He had big violet eyes, pale skin, and a mullet. "Hey, um, Lance, would you like to dance with me?"  
  
Allura laughed as Lance blushed hard. "Of course, Keith. I always like dancing with you."

The Cuban pulled the Korean boy to the dance floor, wrapping his arms around his neck and Keith placed his hands on Lance's waist. Of course, they were nervous about publically displaying affection in fear of judgement, but they were so in love that it was impossible not to grin when they held hands, kissed, or really did anything. And Allura absolutely loved her brother, and was so happy that he'd found someone who loves him. She just wished she could find someone like that.

Allura heard guitars in the background as she leaned against the balcony once again. She perked up when she noticed the young prince standing next to her. "It's really beautiful tonight."

"Yes, it is," the princess agreed.

Matt shrugged. "It's not as beautiful as you, but nothing has a chance in comparison anyways."

Allura giggled, continuing conversation with Matt. They got to know each other, flited, and the Altean just knew that he was so good for her. Over the course of the next few months after they began courting, she caught herself falling in love with him. Matt was charming and geeky and handsome, altogether the perfect guy.   
  
Allura loved looking at the snow in the moonlight, a reminder of that blessed night, and those childlike eyes, and that distant smile. The day Matt got on his knees and proposed was the happiest day of her life. She eagerly accepted, knowing that she would never be this happy again. After their wedding, it would be just Allura and Matt and no one else.  
  
They'd been though all of this before. Matt would leave to fight the Galran Empire ever so often, but he would always come back a little more haunted. Allura sometimes wondered if he remembered the night they met. Joy and life inside their souls, and nobody knew except for her and Matt. It's their secret.  
  
Allura remembered the night on the balcony. She remembered the winter sky, and turning to her brother and asking, "Oh, how can anyone sleep? There was never such a night before! I feel like putting my arms round my knees and squeezing tight as possible! And flying away," to Lance's absolute horror, she sat on the railing and spread her arm out. "Like this..."  
  
That night was the best night of Allura's life, and she wouldn't trade it for the world. She wouldn't trade Matt for the world. He was absolutely perfect, and sweet, and amazing. There was nothing she wanted more than to have his hands in hers as she vowed to love and cherish him now and forever, until death do they part. But there were times when it felt like that would never happen, and those were the moments Allura cried herself to sleep.  
  
"Maybe he'll come today," she muttered out loud. "Or maybe he came already, and he's sitting in the drawing room, and I simply forgot."


	7. The Opera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran takes Allura and Lance to the opera, and Allura meets a handsome young man.

"The opera, the opera!" Coran exclaimed, pushing Allura and Lance out the carriage. "Stop mooning and moaning, we'll miss the curtain."  
  
Ma'am, sir," a beautiful woman with golden skin, Nyma, said, grinning towards Lance, who blushed uncomfortably. "Welcome to the opera."

Allura was shocked, and a bit uncomfortable, with the all the bare arms and shoulders the women were showing. Young men and women in the military wore brilliant uniforms, ladies who stayed at home had many pearls and silk. They glittered before Lance and Allura's eyes. Feminine envy, people they had met long ago, desires and emotions. Everyone saw Allura's bare arms and shoulders, seeing her as a woman.  
  
"Allura, smooth your gown," Coran chided, and the young princess obeyed.   
  
Looking in the glass of the windows, she saw that she was pretty. Not a girl anymore, Allura had never felt like this before. With hundreds of eyes looking at my bare arms, her bare neck, and shoulders.

The two remarkably attractive siblings had not been seen in that part of Altea in many years. Everybody knew vaguely of Allura's engagement; one of the finest matches in all of the Universe!

"Look, there's Trigal, home from the war at last," Lance muttered, pointing into the crowd as they walked. The young woman was wearing her uniform, downing a glass of wine.  
  
"She has changed," Coran commented. They had once been friends, along with Zarkon. They he betrayed them for Quintessance, and the war started. "Dear me, Gyrgan Kirilovich has grown still stouter!"  
  
"There's Blaytz and that ex-Galran servant, engaged," Allura said. "And Shay Mikhailovna, what a headdress she has on!"  
  
"And is that Princess Allura," someone muttered to one of their friends. There were whispers about her beauty, and Allura felt her face fluster. She had been praised all her life, but not like this. Strangers staring at her body; that had never happened before. She couldn't say that she didn't like it. They were looking at her, all of them talking about her. Allura couldn't help but think that they like her. Some of the women envious, their lovers jealous with them or calming their jealousy.  
  
Keith ran up to Lance, grabbing him by the hands. "Hey."

"You're here too?" The prince questioned as the half-galran nodded.

"Everyone is," the Korean was dressed nicely, as everyone else was. He had on a tuxedo with a red tie, sporting his mullet that Lance secretly loved. "Can I sit with you?"

Coran gave his godson a thumbs up, and Lance shouted "Of course!" His face flushed when he realized how loud he said it. Keith laughed, nervously pecking his lips, and pulling him into a chair. Allura grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as Lance flipped her off.

"Announcing Acxa Dolokhova," Nyma announced. Acxa dominated Altea's most brilliant young women. She stood in full view, well aware that she's attracting attention, yet as much at ease as though she were in her own room.  
  
"Axca was in the frontlines, and she killed the Sendak's brother!" Coran told the three of them excitedly. "Now all the gentlemen, and some ladies, are mad about her. Acxa the assassin!"

Keith looked down as anger and jealousy flared up in Lance. He protectively held his lover's hand. Acxa had a thing for Keith once, and kissed him purposefully in front of Lance. The boy didn't understand the full picture, and refused to let Keith explain, thinking he lied about being gay and cheated. They broke up for a month, before Lance found out the truth. Keith forgave him, and they got back together, but there would always be an insecurity inside Lance. That he would never be enough. Coran didn't know about this, no one but Allura did. All everyone else knew was that they broke up, no explanation.  
  
"Announcing Count Adam Shirogane." Adam was the king of society. Handsome, formally dressed. He had dark skin, and a very attractive face that left men and women swooning. Adam and Acxa walked in together, arm in arm. Shiro the cuckold sat at home alone, the poor man.

"No, I am enjoying myself at home this evening," Shiro shouted at the Author. 

Allura, noticing that everything about Adam seemed like he was trying to seduce someone, was starting to feel even more uncomfortable. Wasn't he married?  
  
"So beautiful," Adam told Allura, sitting next to her. "What a charming young girl."  
  
Allura blushed scarlet at the praise.  
  
Coran, knowing Adam, quickly changed the subject. "Hello, Adam," He turned to the three teenagers. "This is Shiro's husband. Have you been here long? And where is dear Shiro?  
He never used to forget us."  
  
"Yes Shiro, that good man," Allura said, remembering her friend. They were friends when they were younger, but after he married Adam they rarely ever spoke, since they moved back to Earth, then back to Altea years later. Moving planets wasn't uncommon, since in this reality Earth never kept aliens secret, and so their technology all grew extremely fast. "He must come visit us."  
  
Adam rolled his eyes, unimpressed with the princess since she mentioned his husband. They hadn't gotten along in years. "I will implore him to do so."  
  
Adam was a man one should stay far away from, Coran thought. "Now Allura, the curtain is rising."  
  
Everyone in the boxes and the stalls became silent. All the men, old and young, in uniform and evening dress. The women in the hall, with gems on their bare flesh, turned their whole attention with curiosity to the stage.  
  
It was grotesque and amazing, but Allura could not follow the opera, or even listen to the music. All she saw was painted cardboard and strangely dressed actors moving and singing so strangely in the lights. It was so false and unnatural that Allura, who absolutely loved music and singing, was ashamed and amused. Everyone else seems oblivious and feigned delight. She found it completely stupid.  
  
Feeling the flood of brilliant lights, the warm perfumed air heated by the crowd, Allura little by little began to pass into a state of intoxication. As she looked and thought, the strangest fancies unexpectedly and disconnectedly passed through her mind: the idea occurred to her of jumping onto the edge of the box and singing the air the actress was singing, then she wished to touch with her fan an old gentleman sitting not far from her, then to lean over to Adam and tickle him.  
  
And then with a rush of cold air, an exceptionally handsome man walked in with a confident yet courteous air.   
  
This was Adam's good friend, the exiled prince of Dibazaal, Lotor Kuragin. With purple skin and long white hair, he moved with a swagger which would have been ridiculous had he not been so good-looking. And though it was the middle of the act, he walked right down the aisle, his sword and spurs jangling, his handsome perfumed head held high. And he looked right at Allura.  
  
Lotor grinned, leaning into her box. _"Mais charmante_."  
  
And he took his place in the front row next to Acxa.  
  
"How handsome he is," Allura whispered, not loud enough for anyone to hear. "How... how _intoxicating_."  
  
In the second act there were tombstones. The moon over the footlights, horns and a contrabass were played. One actor wore a black cloak and a dagger in his hand, and he falsely stabbed the other actor. But Allura wasn't paying attention.  
  
She turned around again and their eyes met. Lotor gazed straight into her eyes. He was talking about her to Acxa. Allura felt a foreign sense of excitement. This man was doing strange things to her.  
  
Candles were burning, and a crimson ribbon was thrown over the actor that was stabbed. The Tsar wails a mournful tune, the actors waved their arms. Everybody cheered. "Bravo, bravo!"  
  
_Every time I look at him, he's looking at me. Every time I look at him he's looking at me. Every time I look at him..._  
  
A terrible noise, a clatter in the crowd, a storm of chromatic scales and diminished sevenths. With rapturous faces everyone was shouting and screaming, "Bravo!"  
  
"Bravo, bravo!" Coran clapped his hands together. "Such an amazing show."

Allura half-mindedly nodded.  
  
And then, a rush of cold air, and Lotor entered the box.


	8. Allura and Lotor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor and Allura talk alone.

"Lotor," the handsome man introduced himseld after Lance and Keith left (probably to go make-out somewhere) and Coran sighed, simply going somewhere to get something to eat.

The dark skinned Altean blushed, hand shaking as she let him kiss it. As soon as his lips touched her hand, she shuddered. Allura had never felt like this, wondering what he was doing to her.

"I have long wished to have this happiness. Ever since that ball a year ago, where I had the well-remembered pleasure of seeing you," it was where Matt had met Allura, vowing to make her his wife. "How do you like the performance? Last week the actress fell down on the stage."  
  
He was sensible and simple... bold and natural. Allura felt so strange around him, nothing formidable. She noticed how his smile was most naïve, cheerful and good-natured. And he was as handsome up close as at a distance. He was as handsome up close as at a distance...

"And do you know, Allura, we are having a costume tournament soon," Lotor gave her a smirk, and Allura clenched her body. "You ought to come, please come!"  
  
"Oh-"  
  
"You ought to come, please?" He pouted, looking adorable, and Allura didn't want to say no.

But she also couldn't say yes. She felt like she would be betraying Matt. "Oh, I-"  
  
Lotor never removed his smiling eyes from her face, her neck, and her bare arms. The princess bit her lip.  
  
She knew for certain that he was taken by her. She know for certain that he was enraptured by her. Allura could _feel_ looking at her body, and it excited her.  
  
And her looked her in the eye. Allura, looking back into his eyes, is frightened. She jumped when his hand touched the inside of her thigh. There was not that barrier of modesty that she had always felt with men. She feel so terribly near him, afraid that he may seize her from behind and kiss her on the neck. But the more she thought about it, the more she wished he would. "How do you like these parts of Altea?"  
  
"At first I did not like it much," Lotor admitted, moving his hand up and down her thigh. Allura felt strange sensations as he did this, her face turning red. "Because what makes a town pleasant _ce sont les jolies femmes_. Isn't that so?" He grinned, grabbing her thigh tightly, making her jolt. "But now I like it very much indeed. Do come to the costume tournament, Princess. Do come!" He turned her face towards him, hand still on her thigh. "You will be the prettiest there. Please, dear 'lura," he pulled the flower in her hair out. "And give me this flower as a pledge."  
  
"I feel closer to you than I've ever felt with any other man, there's no one else here... no one else can see us. Your eyes, your eyes, your eyes, oh your eyes..."  
  
"It's all right, Allura," he let go of her thigh and grabbed her hand. "I'm here."  
  
He smiled at her, nothing between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said no smut, not no sexual things that aren't smut.


	9. The Duel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Acxa fight over Adam.

"Good evening, Shiro," Lotor said, looking at the twenty-three year old man who was reading a book. "Studying?"  
  
"Yes," he nodded. "How was the opera?"  
  
"Lovely," Lotor smirked. "Allura Rostova was there."  
  
"Oh? Dear Andrey's betrothed? I have known her family for years and long carried affection for her," Shiro said, putting his book down.  
  
"Yes, charming," Lotor grinned to himself. "Look, Acxa's almost here. We're off to the club. Will you come, old man?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. Why not?" the Japanese man told the younger Galran man.

"Lend me fifty rubles?" Lotor asked him. Shiro handed him the money, an the two set off.

* * *

Acxa poured the liquor down her throat, feeling the burning sensation. She took another shot of vodka as her friends began their drinks. Knowing them, they would be drinking and partying all night. Lotor, who usually flirted with all the women there, seemed distracted. Acxa didn't care, it meant she could flirt with them, and hopefully do _things_ with them later, without Lotor's annoyingly suave pick-up lines getting in the way, and she wouldn't be forced to only flirt with men.  
  
They all drank and drank, knowing that at any moment the city could be taken my the Empire, or the Comet could destroy everything. There was fire in the sky and ice on the ground. Either way, everyone could die.

Doctors warned Shiro that with his disease, though almost cured (thanks to Altean medicines), vodka and wine are dangerous for him. But he didn't care, and drank a great deal. He as only at ease after pouring several glasses mechanically into his mouth. He downed another glass, feeling apleasant warmth in his body; a sentimental attachment to his two close friends.  
  
"Keep drinking old man," Acxa told him, handing Shiro a glass of wine. "Drink the whole night through."  
  
"Allura, Allura," Lotor could only think of her. "Her arms, her shoulders, her neck, her feet..."  
  
Adam shook his head. "You talk with the air of a connoisseur."  
  
"I will make love to her!" he decided, drunkenly announcing it.  
  
"Better not, Lotor," Acxa moved her blue hair away from her face. "She's first rate, but nothing but trouble."  
  
"Better wait till she's married," both her and Adam said at the same time. They looked at him, smirking.  
  
Lotor was a married man, and that fact known only to his intimates. An Altean farmer on the colony, a landowner of some small means, had forced him to marry his daughter, Romelle.  
  
"Nevermind about that now, it doesn't matter. I don't give a damn!" Lotor yelled, taking a sip of vodka. "God has made me as I am. All I care for is happiness and women. And there's no dishonor in that! As long as there's money and vodka, I'm fine."  
  
"I used to love," Shiro muttered into his glass. Remembering when he first met Adam. When they were courting, it had been amazing. Shiro loved Adam with all his heart, and the feelings were reciprocated. Shiro explained how he was asexual, and never wanted to have sex, and young Adam, desperately in love, gladly promised that he didn't care if he never had sex with him, he just wanted to love Shiro. Then they started fighting, and yelling and screaming was all that happened at their house. Shiro actually threw a vase at Adam, though he was so drunk that it missed. Since their relationship was over, and they couldn't stand to even look at each other anymore, Adam started sleeping around. "I used to be better."

Shiro heard that voice in his head. "Keep drinking old man."  
  
"You drink and drink, despite knowing what it can do to you," Adam scoffed. "God, to think I married a man like you."  
  
"Don't speak to me, Adam," Shiro turned away from his husband. There was something inside him...  
  
"Acxa, pour me another," Adam held his glass out, smirking at the blue-skinned half-galran as she did do, smirking back.  
  
Something terrible and monstrous...  
  
"Here's to the health of married men and women!" Acxa exclaimed, thrusting her cup into the air. A smile lurks at the corner of her mouth. "Here's to the health of married men and women, and their lovers!"  
  
The words replayed in Shiro's mind over and over again. He remembered the looks Acxa and Adam gave each other, how often they were with each other. Adam and Acxa had both slept with many men and women, but to think that his friend would betray him in such a personal way angered Shiro. He may not be in love with Adam anymore, but he used to be, and he was still his husband. More anger flared in him when Acxa wrapped an arm around Adam's neck.  
  
"How dare you touch him?" He exclaimed, slamming his fist down on the table.  
  
Acxa scoffed. "You can't love him."  
  
"Enough! You bully, you whore! I challenge you!"  
  
"Oh, a duel?" Acxa feigned a gasp. "Yes, this is what I like."  
  
Adam shook his head in horror, grabbing Shiro's shoulders. "She will kill you, stupid husband!"  
  
"So I shall be killed. What is it to you?" It couldn't be, Shiro absolutely could not believe it was true, but he swore he saw fear and the brief glimpse of a tear in his husband's eyes before he turned and walked away. "Lotor, my guns."  
  
The Galran handed him them, but was still oppsed to it. "Oh, this is horribly stupid."  
  
Acxa laughed. "Well, let's begin. This is child's play."  
  
Later in the day, the two of them met up. Adam was Acxa's second, and Lotor was Shiro's, A servant reluctantly did the formalities of the duel. "As the adversaries have refused a reconciliation, we shall please proceed with the duel. Ready your pistols, and on the count of tri, begin to advance.  
  
"Rahz! Dva! Tri!" The crowed yelled.  
  
"Shiro, hold your fire. Shiro, hold your fire!" Lotor yelled when Shiro aimed his gun at the younger woman, shooting. "Shiro, not yet!"

Everyone was shocked when the bullet landed in Acxa's gut, and she screamed, crying out in pain. "No! Shot by a fool!"  
  
The Japanese man was shocked. "No, wait, I didn't mean-"  
  
"Quiet, old man!" She snarled, lifting her gun. "My turn."  
  
_My turn..._ Shiro held his arms out, embracing death. He closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet that would end everything.  
  
Lotor was terrified for his friend. "Shiro, stand back!"  
  
Adam screamed, tears streaming down his face when Acxa shot her gun, hand shaking from the pain.

It missed.  
  
"Missed, missed.... HOW?!" The blue skinned girl started sobbing as the doctor gently carried her to a cot. She began rambling things that made no sense. "Oh, my mother, my angel. My adoréd angel mother... she will die!"  
  
"Take her away," Adam told the doctor, and he nodded, carrying her to a hospital.  
  
The sun rose in the sky. The duel was at an end. "Takashi Shirogane is the winner!"  
  
Shiro shook his head, not believing it. "Winner..."  
  
"You are a fool!" His husband yelled at him, throwing his arms around him, sobbing. Shiro pushed him off, angry at him. Adam looked hurt, but there was understanding in his eyes. He betrayed Shiro, he had to deal with the consequences.  
  
"Well, sweet Adam," Lotor said, trying to bring some humor to the situation. "You certainly bring out the beast in everyone."  
  
Adam composed himself, ready to go back to pretending to be cold and heartless, pretending not to care about his husband. Pretending not to love him. "What can I say?  
It's a gift."  
  
"How I adore you," the Galran prince laughed. "Will you ask Allura to the ball tonight?"  
  
Adam sighed. "Of course, dear Lotor."  
  
Lotor grabbed Shiro's hand, pulling him up. "Come on, old man. Let's get you home."  
  
"In a moment," he protested.  
  
Lotor nodded. "When you get home, sleep it off and be happy," he smiled. "We live to love another day."


	10. Dust and Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro decides he doesn't want to die.

Is this how Shiro would die? Ridiculed and laughed at? Wearing clown shoes? Is this really how he would die? Furious and reckless; sick with booze?  
  
How did he live? Shiro tasted every wasted minute, every time he turned away from the things that might have healed him. How long had he been sleeping?  
  
He would've died frightened like a child, lazy and numb. Died pretending and preposterous and dumb.   
  
But was he kind enough and good enough? Did he love enough? Did I ever look up and see the moon, and the stars, and the sky? Oh, why has he been sleeping?  
  
They say we are asleep until we fall in love; we are children of dust and ashes. But when we fall in love, we wake up, and we are a god, and angels weep. But if Shiro had died there tonight, he dies in his sleep.  
  
All of his life was spent searching the words of poets and saints and prophets and kings, and now at the end all he knew that he'd learned was that all that he know is he doesn't know a thing.  
  
It was so easy to close off, place the blame outside. Shiro hid in his room at night, so terrified of all the things he could have been. But but never had the nerve; he didn't deserve life, love, and happiness.  
  
So all right, all right! He had his time, so he would close his eyes and let the death bells chime. Bury him in burgundy, Shiro just didn't care. There was nothing left for him, and he'd looked everywhere. These were the questions trapped in his mind:  
  
_Is this how I die? Was there ever any other way my life could be? Is this how I die? Such a storm of feelings inside of me?_  
  
But then why was he screaming? Why was he shaking? Oh God, was there something that he missed? Did Shiro squander his divinity? Was happiness within him the whole time?  
  
They say we are asleep until we fall in love; we are children of dust and ashes. But when we fall in love, we wake up, and we are a god, and angels weep. But if Shiro had died there tonight, he died in his sleep.  
  
They say we are asleep until we fall in love, and Shiro was so ready to wake up now.  
  
He wanted to wake up. Don't let him die while he's like this! He needed to wake up!

 _God, don't let me die while I'm like this!_ He screamed in his head.  
  
Shiro was ready to wake up.


	11. Sunday Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all go to church.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol ik that aliens aren't Christians and don't go to Church, but everyone in 19th century Russia did so what can ya do?

Early Sunday morning, Allura and Lance lit a candle and looked in the mirror.  
  
Allura peered into it, grinning. "I see my face."  
  
"Don't be silly," Lance playfully swatted his sister's hand. "They say you can see your future in the long row of candles stretching back and back and back into the depths of the mirror. In the dim confused last square, you'll see a coffin or a man," the Cuban boy laughed, rolling his eyes. "Everyone sees a man."  
  
Allura saw the candles stretching back so far away. She saw the mirrors, a shape in the darkness. Is it him or is it- "He's lying down," Allura blurted, panicked. "Oh, Lance, why is he lying down? I'm so frightened!" She began panicking. "Matt will never come, or something will happen to me before he does!"

"Chill out, Allura," Lance shook his head at his sister. "It's just an old legend."

At that moment, Coran burst through the doors, grinning excitedly. "Sunday morning! Time for church!"  
  
Sitting in the pews, Allura suffered more now than before. The theater and Lotor, that man who aroused such terrible feelings... Allura didn't understand. Had she broken faith with Matt? Was she guilty?  
  
After church, Coran left for Prince Holt's. She came home angry and disappointed, Lance and Keith cuddling on the couch (Keith sleeping) as Allura read a book on the floor.  
  
"The rudeness of that man!" Coran ranted. "I'll straighten him out!"  
  
That terrible old Prince... Allura couldn't bear to think of it. She got up abruptly, making Keith stir in his sleep, arms still tight around Lance. He shot her a glare, but the princess didn't pay attention, shutting herself in her room and trying on new dresses.   
  
Just after Coran left, there was a knock at the door. Allura had just turned her head to the glass when she heard a voice that made her flush .


	12. Charming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam uses flattery to get Allura to go to the ball.

"Oh my, you look stunning. Absolutely beautiful," Adam grinned, walking over to Allura and giving her a twirl. "Charming, charming. Oh, this is really beyond anything. These dresses suit you," he commented, picking up a lovely dress. "Try this one, 'metallic gauze.' Straight from a city on Earth, Paris. It's very a very beautiful city."

"Have you ever been?" The princess asked the older man.   
  
"Uh, yeah. It was where me and Shiro had our honeymoon..." Adam looked down, features turning sad, But he quickly shook it off. "Anything suits you, my dear."  
  
Allura blushed a deep red, absolutely loving the praise. Adam was such a kind person, he even told her that she looked pretty when she blushed. The princess was so flustered, she'd always had a weakness to being adored. The human man seemed to be complementing so much, everything he said was so kind! Allura got flustered again.  
  
" _Charmante, charmante_!" Adam said incorrectly, Allura didn't have the heart to correct him. "You are such a lovely thing, oh where have you been? It's such a shame to bury pearls in the country. _Charmante, charmante,_ charming."

"Thank you, so much, but why are you telling me this?" The princess inquired.  
  
"Because it's the truth!" The dark skinned man picked up a beautiful pink gown. "Now if you have a dress, you must wear it out. How can you be the princess of Altea and not go nowhere?"

That made Allura think. Why? It was tradition on Altea for a young girl to be sheltered, keep female friends, and for the first time for her to be alone with a man that was not her family or a family friend to be her wedding night, in which certain, uh, _acts_ were preformed (not that many girls followed that last bit). But so what? To hell with tradition!

But she was betrothed to Matt, and it was very improper for a princess to be doing such things. Allura voiced her thoughts.

Adam merely shrugged. "So you love somebody? Great! But that's no reason to shut yourself in. Even if you're engaged, you must wear your dress out somewhere."  
  
Allura thought about this. Adam was so kind to her, and he was saying things like this like it was nothing. Maybe it was okay?  
  
"You know, Lotor dined with me yesterday," the man with the glasses commented, deciding which outfit would be best for the ball. "But he didn't eat a thing, because he was thinking about you. He kept sighing about you."  
  
Allura's face burnt red again, and she covered it with a pillow. Adam laughed, putting the pillow down. She really was a beautiful young girl, and despite what everyone thought, she was still just a girl. It made him want to adopt a baby, maybe Shiro would agree. The thought made Adam freeze. Shiro hated him, he hated Shiro. He couldn't stand being around him, and if there was some way to undo their marriage, he would agree in a heartbeat. Then why did he still want to be held by him in the night, to walk around town with one and around a child's, he didn't care which gender, and the other firmly clasped in Shiro's. Adam entertained the thought that maybe, just _maybe_ , he didn't want to leave Shiro, but wanted things to get back to he way they used to; before Shiro got sick and continued to do reckless things, before they had to move across the galaxy just for a cure, before he wasn't just a second thought, then not even a thought, in Shiro's head.

But that couldn't be it. Adam refused to believe it. So he continued to flatter the young girl his friend so desperately desired. "Now a woman with a dress is a frightening and powerful thing to many men. You are not a child when you're draped in scarlet and lace, so be careful," he wasn't a bad person. He didn't want the poor girl to get hurt. "But your fiancé would want you to have fun rather than be bored to death. _Alliez dans le monde plutôt que de dépérir d'ennui_!"  
  
Allura thought about his words, taking each on into consideration. She began tugging at her hair. "Are you sure it's okay? I'm going to be married, and if what you say is true, it could be very-"  
  
"He is quite madly in love, quite madly in love with you, my dear. And do you wanna know a secret?" Adam whispered in her ear. "I know you are too."  
  
Her face lit up bright red. She wasn't in love with him! She loved Matt! She was to be Matt's wife! She couldn't be in love with Lotor, she wasn't.

But then... what was she feeling the night of the opera...?  
  
What once seemed so terrible now seems simple and natural. Adam knew that she was engaged, and still he talked so frankly, so it must be all right!  
  
"There is a ball at my house tonight. You must come," Allura's blue eyes opened wide maybe she should go, though she still wasn't entirely sure. "You will be the prettiest there! You must come."  
  
The princess, giggling and blushing, nodded. "I will come."


	13. The Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura goes to the ball and dances with Lotor, and decides that she's in love with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if its bad lmao I'm asexual I don't know what lust is like.

Lotor was waiting at the door, tapping his foot on the floor. Adam said Allura promised to attend, and he got excited. He needed a plan to woo her. The princess was already engaged, so it had to be excellent. The Altean already seemed to be _very_ attracted to him, Lotor just hoped it was enough to get her to agree to be with him. He still didn't know what he meant by that. She was different. But he definitely wanted to make-love to her. That was definite.  
  
So you can imagine how excited he was when Allura entered the door wearing a sleeveless, backless white dress. Lotor took her by the hand. "May I have this dance?"

"S-sure," she said, blushing as he kissed her palm. He smirk when she jolted backwards.  
  
As the music began, Lotor led Allura through the steps, and she was seized by feelings of vanity and fear. There was no barrier between them, whispers and moans, and ringing in her ears. No. Barrier.  
  
The music was beautiful, and could be described as divine, the Altean princess couldn't see or hear anything, borne away to a senseless world. It was so strange, so remote. She no longer knew good from bad. All she could think of was Lotor, and she was so frightened.  
  
"You are enchanting," he whispered in her ear, and as they danced, Lotor pressed her waist and hand, telling her something. She couldn't resister what he said, to lost to think or feel anything other than her desire for him. "And I love you."

Allura certainly heard that, face flustered, heart beating fast, she let him guide her through the steps. During the ecossaise, he said nothing, just gazed in her eyes, her frightened, terrified eyes. He had such confident tenderness, the princess could not say what she had to say. She looked down.  
  
"Don't lower your eyes, Allura," he lifted her chin up. "I want to see those bright, beautiful blue eyes. Gaze in _my_ eyes, can't you see that I love you? You are bewitching. What can I do? Darling, what can I do?"  
  
"Don't say such things," the princess whispered, terrified. "I am betrothed. I love another-"  
  
"Don't speak to me of that when I tell you that I am madly, madly in love with you!" He squeezed her waist and hand tighter. "Is it my fault that you're enchanting?"  
  
"I'm so frightened, I don't understand anything tonight!" Allura told Lotor, panicking.  
  
He attempted to calm her nerves. "I'm here now."  
  
Allura's whole face burned, and she broke away from him, running down the hall. __  
  
"'llura!" He yelled, running after her. She could feel his eyes upon her, and when she finally reached a dead in, her heart rate spiked.  
  
Blocking her path, Lotor brought her face close to his.   
  
Lotor's large, glittering, masculine eyes were so close to hers that she saw nothing else.  
  
"Is it possible that I should never see you again? I love you madly!" Lotor placed his forehead onto hers. "Can I never? 'llura?"  
  
He pressed her arm.  
  
"'llura?"  
  
"You're hurting my hands!" The princess protested.  
  
He let got. "'llura?"  
  
"I don't understand," she choked out, starting to sob. "I have nothing to say!"  
  
Lotor brought his lips to hers, and they kissed. Allura closed her eyes. She'd never felt this way about a kiss before. With Matt it had always been innocent little pecks on the lips or the cheek. She felt his tongue probing her closed lips, until he pushed it though into her mouth. The princess gasped, moaning in pleasure as their tongues swirled together, and when they broke away, Allura felt more flustered than ever before.  
  
Still feeling his burning lips pressed to hers, she couldn't believe what just happened. She was trembling, so frightening.

Matt...  
  
But she loved Lotor. of that there is no doubt. How else could all of this have happened? How else could they have kissed? It meant that she had loved Lotor from the first glace, that he was kind, noble and splendid. And Allura could not help loving him.  
  
"I will love you, Lotor," she vowed.  
  
He smiled, kissing her hand. "I'll do anything for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was very uncomfortable writing this


	14. Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro writes a letter to Matt, Allura tries to write letters to Matt and Katie but is unable to do so. Then she receives one...

In the nineteenth-century, people wrote letters, lots of them, to their friends and family. They put down in writing what is happening in their minds. And once it was on the paper, they felt better. It was like some kind of clarity, when the letter's done and signed.  
  
_Dear Matt,_  
  
_Dear old friend, how goes the war? Do we march on the Galra splendidly? Do our cannons crack and cry? Do our bullets whistle and sing? Does the air reek with smoke?_  
  
_I wish I were there. With death at my heels._  
  
_Acxa is recovering. She will be all right, the good woman. And Allura is in town! Your bride to be, so full of life and mischief, I should visit her. I hear she is more beautiful than ever. How I envy you and your happiness._  
  
_Here at home I drink and read and drink and read and drink. But I think I've finally found it: what my heart has needed._  
  
_For I've been studying the Kabal and I've calculated the number of the beast. It is Zarkon! Six hundred three score and six. I will kill him one day. He's no great man. None of us are great men! We're all just caught in the wave of history. Nothing matters, yet everything matters. It's all the same. Oh, if only I could not see "it." This dreadful, terrible "it."_

 _Your Friend,_  
  
_Takashi Shirogane_

* * *

Allura picked her quill up.  
  
_Dear Matt,_  
  
What more could she write after all that has happened? What was she to do if she loved him and the other one too? Must she break it off? These terrible questions...  
  
Allura could see nothing but the candle in the mirror, no visions of the future, so lost and alone.  
  
"And what of Princess Katie?" The Altean mumbled, picking up the letter Coran demanded she reply to.

"The poor girl is terrified that you think she hates you," he'd told her.  
  
_Dear Allura,_  
  
_I am in deep despair at the misunderstanding there is between us. Whatever my father's feelings might be, I beg you to believe that I cannot help loving you. He is a tired old man and must be forgiven. Please, come see us again_  
  
_Sincerely,_

 _Princess Katie  
_  
Allura tentatively picked up another sheet of paper.  
  
_Dear Princess Katie,_  
  
"Oh, what am I to write! How do I choose? What do I do?" Allura screamed into her pillow, sobbing. "I shall never be happy again!"  
  
Shiro, tormented with questions of if he wanted to live or die.  
  
Katie, alone, with her old-fashioned father who used to be kind and gentle, now cruel and unforgiving.

They were all so lost and alone.  
  
Allura noticed a sheet of paper. Wiping her tears, she picked it up. Her breath hitched when she realized what it was.

 _Dear Allura,  
_  
A love letter.  
  
"A letter from him, from the man that I love..." The princess murmured in disbelief. She didn't know that it was really Acxa who wrote it, and gave it to Lotor to send.  
  
_Allura, I need you to know that I must love you or die. 'llura, if you love me, say yes, and I will come and steal you away. Steal you out of the dark, and we shall elope. Please, my dear, I want nothing more. I love you more than any words can express, and I would do anything for you. Just say yes, mon amour, say yes._

_Everyday without you is unbearable. I need you, Allura. Please?_

_Love,_

_Lotor_  
  
The princess giggled like the young girl she was, clutching the letter close to her heart. "Yes, yes, I love him! How else could I have his letter in my hand?"

She read it twenty times, thirty times, forty times! Each and every word.  
  
She loved him so much.


	15. Lance and Allura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance, now engaged to Keith, finds Lotor’s letter. Him and Allura her into a huge fight.

How was it that Lance noticed nothing? How could it go so far? It can't be that she loves him  It can't be! “Allura!”

Allura stirred awake, eyes widening with joy when she saw her brother. “Lance, you're back! I heard about you and Keith! I’m so happy he finally proposed!” With the tender resolve that often comes at the moment of awakening, and when one is newly engaged, Allura embraced her brother. But noticing Lance's look of embarrassment, her face expressed confusion, it might’ve been because of Keith’s proposal, but also suspicion. “Lance, you've read the letter?”  
  
 _“_ Yes,” he looked down.   
  
 _“_ Oh Lance, I'm glad. I can't hide it any longer! Now you know, we love one another!” The princess giggled, falling back onto the bed. “Oh Lance, he writes, he writes  
He writes, he writes, _he writes_.”

The Cuban boy was quiet for a while. “And Matt?”  
  
 _“_ Oh Lance, if you only knew how happy I am!” She protested, trying to get her brother, her side. “You don't know what love is!” 

Lance snorted, remembering Keith’s nervous stutter as he asked him for his hand earlier that day, holding hands under the table when he came over for dinner, the blutterflies that he used to feel, but faded as Lance’s feelings for the older boy matured into that of wanting to make sure that Keith was happy, he felt loved, and the content feeling he got then they cuddled on the couch. The butterflies go away over time, the longing in your heart to love and protect them never does. “But Allura, can that all be over?”

“I do not grasp the question,” she told her brother, giving him a confused face.   
  
 _“_ Are you refusing Prince Matt?” He clarified, scared for the answer.

_Matt held Allura in his arms, pressing his lips onto her forehead. “I’m leaving to go fight in the war soon. Promise you won’t find someone better that me?” He grinned, a joking tone to his voice._

_Allura hugged him close to her. “There’s no one better than you.”_  
  
“Oh, you don't understand anything!” The princess yelled exasperated, tired of explaining her love. “Don't talk nonsense, just listen-”  
  
 _“_ But I can't believe it, I don't understand. How you love one man a whole year, and suddenly-” he threw his arms out, exasperated. “You've only known him three days! Allura, you're joking!”  
  
 _“_ Three days?” Had it really only been that long? She could hardly believe the prince. “It seems to me I've loved him a hundred years. It seems to me I've never loved anyone before. Not like _this_. I have no will! My life is his  
I'll do anything he wants me to! What can I do? Lance, what can I do?”

Lance’s eyes widened. That wasn’t love. He began fearing for his sister. She was so young, so naïve, he couldn’t let her do this to herself.   
  
“I'm so happy And so frightened!  
Why can't you understand?” Allura laughed, as if she was insane. “I love him!”

 _“I love you, Matt,” Allura told the older man she was dancing with. “I love you.”_  
  
 _“_ Then I won't let it come to that,” The Altman prince said, starting to choke. “I shall tell!” He burst into tears, afraid she would hate him. 

“What do you mean? For God's sake, if you tell, you are my enemy! You want me to be miserable, you want to tear us apart!” Allura, sudden rage building in her, pushed Lance away from her forcefully. “For God's sake, Lance, don't tell anyone, don't torture me! I have confided in you, like you did to me when you were eleven, and having crushes on boys and girls!”

“What has happened between you? What has he said to you?” This wasn’t the Allura he knew. The Allura he remembered was strong, independent. She would never let a man control her life. “Why doesn't he come to the house and openly ask for your hand?Why this secrecy? Have you thought what his secret reasons may be?”

“I don't know what the reasons are, but there must be reasons!” She exclaimed. Why could Lance not see how happy she was, and be happy for her? She was happy for him and Keith. Was. “Lance, one can't doubt him!”

_"Marry me?” Matt muttered after his lover placed the flower crown she’d made on his head._

_Allura was taken aback. “What?”_

_"Marry me?” He said louder, grinning, picking her up and twirling her in the air. Allura giggled, screaming for him to put her down._

_When he finally did, Allura looked him in the eyes, and nodded. “Yes. Yes, I want to be your wife!”_

_Matt pulled her on top of him, sweetly kissing her. Allura smiled into the kiss, she was going to marry her true love!_

After a period of silence, Lance spoke up. “Does he love you?”  
  
 _“_ Does he love me?” The blue haired girl giggled, amused. “Why, you've read his letter, you've seen him. I can't live without him.”

Lance cried out in desperation. “Allura, think of our family, and think of Prince Matt-”

“Matt said I was free to refuse him,” she told her brother firmly.

Lance panicked. “But you haven't refused him, or have you?”

“Perhaps I have. Perhaps all is over between me and Holt,” Allura opened the window, looking out of it. “Would you think so badly of me?”

_Matt placed his hands on Allura’s hips, pinning her to the bed so she wouldn’t bounce anymore. The door was open to make sure that they weren’t doing anything naughty. “Allura, I want you to know, you’re free to refuse me any time you want.”_

_The beautiful Altean furrowed her eyebrows. “What? Why would I refuse you.”_

_"You night find someone new. You might decide you don’t want to get married yet, you’re still young. You might decide I’m not good enough-" Allura, seeing the insecurity behind his eyes, pecked him on the lips. “I want you to know that you aren’t trapped in this relationship.”_

_"Thank you,” the princess said. “But **I love you**. That won’t happen.”_

“I won't succumb to your tender tone!” Lance yelled, “Allura, I don't trust him! I'm afraid for you, Allura! Afraid you are going to your ruin-"

“Then I'll go to my ruin, yes I will, as soon as possible!” She screamed, closing the window. “But it's not your business! It won't be you, it'll be me, who'll suffer! Leave me alone, yes leave me alone!” Lance felt tears prickle his eyes at the next words his sister said. “I hate you Lance!  _I hate you Lance_!I hate you, I hate you! You're my enemy forever!”

Lance bursted into sobs, falling on the floor as Allura ran out the room, slamming the door behind her. 

She grabbed a quill, angrily dipped it in ink, and without a moment's reflection, she wrote the answer to Princess Katie that she’s been unable to write all morning.   
  
 _All our misunderstandings are at an end. Forget everything and forgive me, but I can't be Matthew's wife._


	16. Lance Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Allura now hating him and his fiancé back on Earth to tell his friends and family about the wedding, Lance doesn’t know how to save his sister.

As hard as it was, In the coming days, Lance watched his sister in her strange, unnatural state. He refused to let her out of his sight.   
She would trail off, stare at nothing, laugh at random, and the letters come.   
  
Allura would wait for hours by the window, and Lance would listen at the door, Until one day, he could see by the sad look on her face, that there was a dreadful plan in her heart.   
  
Lance knew that Allura was capable of anything, he knew her so well. He knew that she might just run away with this boy, too. 

What could Lance? Who could he ask for help? Keith was back on Earth, inviting his dad and some of his friends to the wedding. Never in his life had Lance needed him as baldly as he did then. Was it all on him? Was it all on him…?  
  
Lance swore to stand in the dark for his sister. If she wouldn’t listen to reason, he would hold her back by force. He would stand there, right outside her door until it was time. He would not see her disgraced. Lance would do everything he could to protect her name and her heart, because he missed his friend, not this obsessive, submissive girl who would do whatever this man told her to.   
  
And Lance that Allura had forgotten him, he her since she could barely walk. He knew that she might just throw herself over, but Lance would not let her. It was all on him.   
  
And he remembered this family, and he remembered their kindness, taking in a small, orphaned five-year-old from Cuba and raising him as a prince. If he never slept again, he wouldn’t care. At least he repayed the Rostov’s for everything they’d done for him.   
  
Lance would sacrifice his life for her, so he could stop her from doing this. And if she hated him for it, at least she wasn’t disgraced and could still become queen. Lance, who was adopted, could never claim the throne. And when she sat on the throne as queen, Lance could only make sure she was protected. He had to start now, because this would destroy the kingdom, the only heir to the throne runs away to elope, and it would break Alfor and Covanso’s hearts. He couldn’t let his mamá and papá go through the pain of loosing their family. Lance knew from personal experience that it was the worst kind of hurt. And though he would be loosing his sister, it was better than their parents loosing their daughter.

So he had to stop her, there was no other choice. And Lance missed Allura, the real Allura, more than he could describe. 

He felt like he was four again, watching Veronica die of the fever that plangued his town. 


	17. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acxa and Lotor make preparations for the elopement.

Shiro, extremely drunk, stumbled onto Lotor in the street, nearly falling on him. “Ah, Lotor! Where are you off too?”

The purple skinned man grinned. “Shiro, good man, tonight I go away, on an adventure. You'll not be seeing me for some time. I've found a new pleasure, and I'm taking her away! I'll send you a letter,” he grinned, looking excited. “From Olkarion.”

“Ha! An elopement!” The Japanese man said, without humor. “Fool, you are married already!”

Lotor waved him off. “Don't talk to me of that! I will not deprive myself of this one! Tonight! I take her tonight!" He sighed, knowing Shiro was extremely wealthy, and with the amount of money he made, would always be. “Lend me fifty rubles?”

Shiro nodded, handing him the money. He smiled as Lotor ran off. Ah, that's a true sage, living in the moment. What Shiro wouldn't give to be like him. The thought of Adam disgusted him. The man lied to him and betrayed him with the biggest insecurity he had: he was unable to please him in _certain ways_. When Shiro has found that out, he had been so broken and hurt that he stopped working out for a while. Now he did it because it made him think of things besides his unfaithful husband, but he missed the days before he started whoring himself around. Shiro would’ve tried to rekindle things if he hadn’t done that. But it was too late. 

* * *

The plan for Allura Rostova's abduction Had all been arranged and the preparations made. On the day that Lance had decided to save her; that was the day that the game was to be played.   
  
Allura was to be on her back porch at ten. Lotor and his troika would scoop her up and then they'd ride forty miles to the village of Kamenka where an unfrocked priest was to make 'em get wed. Then back into the troika off they'd go, to a ship that would take them to Olkarion, and then to the wedding bed. 

They had everything; passports, horses, ten thousand rubles Lotor have taken from Adam, and another ten thousand raised with Acxa’s help. 

They were gathered in her study drinking up some tea. It was just Lotoe, the two wedding witnesses, and her. An abacus and paper money strewn on the desk, Altean rugs and bearskins hanging grotesque. Lotoe was walking with his uniform unbuttoned, to and fro, to and fro, to and fro. 

“Now wait!” Acxa closed her book and placed her tea down. “You better… Just give it up now! Please, Lotor? While there's still time? You'd really better drop it all."

Lotor scoffed, throwing his white hair behind his shoulder. “What, teasing again? Fool, don't talk nonsense!Go to the devil! Eh? Really this is no time for your stupid jokes…”

“I am not joking, I am talking sense,” Acxa told her best friend, walking over to him. “This is serious, dangerous business. Come here, come here, come here Lotor!” The half-Altean half-Galran groaned, sitting down while she lectured him. “Why would I joke about it? Me, of all people! Who found the priest, raised the money, got the passports, got the horses?”

“And I thank you for it,” Lotor crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow. “Do you think I am not grateful?”

“And now you'll carry her away, but will they let it stop there?” The other half-breed shook her head. The king and queen of Altea would search for their daughter endlessly. “You haven't thought this through, or do you just don't care? Now, listen to me, I’ll tell it to you one last time: They will take you to the court and convict you for your crime. You’re already married and you're playing with a little girl. Don't you know, don't you think, don't you know?”

“Nonsense, nonsense!” Lotor waved his arms around, scowling and grimacing. “Didn't I explain it to you, didn't I, what?”  
  
And here, Lotor, with the stubborn attachment small-minded people have For conclusions they've worked out for themselves, repeated his argument to Acxa for the hundredth time. “If this marriage isn't valid, then I'm off the hook. But if it is valid, it really doesn't matter!" He shook his head, remembering the annoying young Altean he was forced to marry. He hated everything about her; her annoying voice, her stupid pigtails, and her natural untrusting towards him. “No one abroad is gonna know a thing about it  Isn't that so now, don't you know?Don't talk to me, don't-what?” Acxa opened her mouth to speak, but Lotor cut her off. “Go to hell now!” He clutched his long white hair stressfully. He pressed Acxa’s hand to his heart. “ _Ah, ma chere, ma chere, quel pied, quel regard_! What a foot she has, what a glance! A goddess!” His handsome lips muttered something tender to himself. “It's time! Now, then. Nearly ready? You're dawdling!” The blue skinned alien sighed, running towards her friend. “Varkon is here!”


	18. Varkon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acxa and Lotor meet with Varkon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh thank God that’s over. I hated writing this chapter. That song is impossible to be a written thing.

Varkon was a troika driver, known for being that madman flying at full gallop down the street. He was that madman knocking people over, running people down while his fine gentlemen hold on to their seats. 

Acxa and Lotor absolutely loved him. “It's Varkon!”

“Ready to sit back while I drive mad at twelve miles an hour?” He asked them jokingly. 

“Yes!” They screeched simultaneously, jumping into it. 

Varkon started driving, fast. He yelled at pedestrians to get out of the way, whipping at horses (and peasants.) He risked hisskin and life twenty times a year for his fine, fine gentlemen. 

Once he made it from the capitol of Altea, the tiny village far away from it, and back in just one night. Narrowly escaped from a wild Cossack fight more than once. He’s been beaten and slapped with gloves 

Varkon sipped some champagne, already drunk, which he loved. 

He was that slowpoke Lotor and Acxa “abused” with wild and tipsy shouts. He knew things that would get you sent straight to Beta Traz if anyone found out  
  
He drove mad at twelve miles an hour.   
  
Coming straight at citizens, so they’d better get out his way.   
  
Varkon loved drinking and dancing with hid Ruska Roma, and riding his horses into the ground for his fine, fine gentlemen. He was more than willing to drive them around with ladies on their laps.   
  
Sometimes, just for the sake of adventure, Lotor got him to drive him and his crew to places not on any maps, making his horses gallope faster than ordinary men would dare. 

He’s jump his troika right into the air with everyone in it, never asking for rubles (except maybe once a year, or occasionally when Shiro was on. Ever since his father died leaving all his money to his illegitimate son, making him legitimate, he always had a lot of money.) Varkon do this for rubles, he did it because they were his friends and he liked them.   
  
And they liked Varkon too. 


	19. Abduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor attempts to elope with Allura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let’s just pretend that Russian is Altean for a little bit.

_“_ Everyone raise a glass! Whoa!” He had gotten Varkon to stop by the club, where he was saying goodbye to his friends. “Well, comrades… we've had our fun  Lived, laughed and loved. You’re the friends of my youth… When shall we meet again? I'm going abroad.”

Some of the girls in the room cried. Many of them had shared a bed with Lotor several times.   
  
“Goodbye, my lover. All my revels here are over,” he went up to Ezor, yes, the very same Ezor that was the Holt’s servant. He met her when he was being forced to ask for Katie’s hand (neither of them wanted it), and they continually met. “Well, goodbye, Ezor. Kiss me one last time?” She pressed her lips up to his in one last moment of pleasure. The old Prince Holt was disgusting, but he was rich. They pulled away, and he ran his hair through a young Altean-Galran halfbreed. They were all, for the most part, unwanted by either side of the war. “Remember me to Steshka,” he kissed her temple, and the girl sniffed. He patted her head. They weren’t in love, both just liked fooling around with each other, but they were friends. “There, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.   
Wish me luck!”

Everyone was disappointed to see Lotor leave. He was the life of the party, he made the young girls swoon, and he kept all of them together.  “Now drink!”

“Hurrah!” They yelling, gulping the champagne and smashing the glasses on the floor. 

Everyone grabbed a partner and began to dance. They were going to enjoy that night, it was the day before Lotor’s wedding night!  
  
They raised more glasses, drinking them. 

Shiro sat up, drunk. “Here's to happiness, freedom, and life! May your travel be swift as a scythe cuts through the grass!” His near-death experience made him realize how much he didn’t want to die. “May your sorrows be counted and numbered as many as drops of wine and vodka that stay in my glass!”

Everyone laughed as he dunk the cup back, drinking it all. “Vsego horoshego, na pososhok, poekhali!”  
  
“Vsego horoshego, na pososhok, poekhali,” people cheered back, many butchering the Altean language **(A/N: ik it’s Russian. Read note at the beginning.)**  
  
“Come on, let's go!” Acxa started up, and everyone began to move. They were stopped by Lotor. 

“Wait, wait, wait! Shut the door!” Acxa closed it, confused. “First we have to sit down!" Everyone went back to their seats, confused. “Yes, that's the way. It's an Altean custom.” Everyone day doen for a moment it silence. “All right.”

Everyone ushed out the door, but Acxa turned Lotor around. “Wait, wait, wait, wait! Where's the fur cloak?  I have heard what elopements are like during the winter. She'll rush out more dead than alive, just in the things she is wearing. If you delay at all, there'll be tears and ‘Papa’ and ‘Mama,’” Acxa rolled her eyes. “And she's frozen in a minute and must go back. But you wrap the fur cloak around her and you her to the sleigh, not only is it very romantic, but it also stops her from dying.”

Lotor nodded. “You always give me advice as if you speak from experience.”

Acxa’s face went red. “I may read romance books from time to time and indulge in gossip and rumors.”

“Let's get outta here!” Varkon yelled. Lotor got the firm cloak and hopped on.   
  
The troika tore down Nikitski Boulevard, and when they reached the gate, Acxa Dolokhova whistled. The whistle was answered, and a maidservant ran out. 

“Come in through the courtyard or you'll be seen; she'll come out directly,” the woman said, pointing in the direction. 

Acxa stayed by the gate as Lotor followed the maid into the courtyard, turned the corner, and ran up to the porch. But instead of the beautiful Allura, he was stopped by an angry, gorgeous man with an orange mustache, who was nicely dressed. 

“You will not enter my house, scoundrel!” He yelled, punching the galran prince. 

“Lotor, come back!” Acxa screamed, terrified for her friend. “We’ve been betrayed, you need to get back here right now!”

She rushed in, saving Lotor from another punch, the two of them running like hell away from that house and into the troika. 


	20. In My House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coral yells at Allura for trying to elope while in his house.

_“_ You shameless good-for-nothing, you vile, shameless girl!” Coran yelled at his goddaughter, who was sobbing on the floor of the drawing room. “In my house! Why would you do this in my house You’ve always been a nice girl! So very nice!”

 

Lance watched the scene unfold from the hallway, fighting back tears. It was so strange to see Coran mad, at Allura of all people.  What made it worse was that he wasn’t allowed to tell Keith. They didn’t want this getting out. 

  
“You dirty nasty wench of a thing, now don't you say one word! In my house, how dare you do this in my house? You horrid girl, hussy!” Allura sobbed, covering her face. Words hurt her worse than physical pain ever could, all her life she’d been praised. Criticism made her hate herself. “It's lucky for him that he escaped, but I'll find him,” Allura turned away, and Coran began yelling. “Now, you listen to me when I speak to you! NOW, YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN IN SPEAK TO YOU! In my house! In my house! Do you hear what I am saying or not?”

 

Allura's whole body shook with noiseless, convulsive sobs. Coran touched his hand to her face, but she slapped his hand away. “Don't touch me! Just me be! What is it to me? I shall die!”

 

“What are we to tell your father? Eh? In my house! In my house!” Coran covered his eyes, shaking his head. “What are we to tell Prince Matt? Oh, what do we tell your betrothed?”

_“_ I have no betrothed,” the princess choked out. “I have refused him!”

 

Coran covered his face in shame, and Lance couldn’t stand it anymore. He ran into the room, hugging his sister. “Allura, come here, hug me. Everything will be-"

 

“Don't touch me!” She screamed, thrashing and screaming and sobbing. 

 

“Why didn't he come to the house? Why didn't he openly ask for your hand?” The Altean man asked her. “You were not kept under lock and key! He wanted to carry you off like some Gypsy girl!” Coran shook his head at Allura’s resentful face. “And if he had carried you off, don't you think your father would have found him? Your father, I know him! He will challenge him to a duel and what then? Will that be all right? Eh? He's a scoundrel, he's a wretch! That's a fact.”

 

Allura let her pent up rage out last she screamed. “He is better than any of you, I say! He is better than any of you, I say!” Tears began pouring down her cheeks, turning to Lance. “Why did you interfere! Oh God, what is it all?!  
What is it?! Who are you to tell me anything?!” Lance found himself fighting off sobs as Allura screamed at him, blaming him for ruining her life. “Lance, why? Go away! Everyone, go away!” Coran Dmitryev tried to speak again, but Allura cried out. “Go away! Go away! You all hate and despise me!” And she threw herself down on the sofa. 

 

“Allura!” Coran yelled, but took a deep breath, composing himself. She was young, and he knew she was naïve, but she was smarter than this. “Allura...”

Coran put a pillow under her head and covered her with two quilts. He went to the kitchen, and brought back glass of lime-flower water. But Allura did not respond. “Well, let her sleep,” Lance started towards her, but Coran held him back. “Let her sleep. Come on, let’s go write Keith. Wedding plans.” Lance reluctantly nodded, following him out of the drawing room. 

  
But Allura was not asleep. Her face was pale, eyes wide open. All that night, she did not sleep or even cry. She sat at the window, waiting for him. 

 


	21. A Call to Shiro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro visits Coran.

Shiro’s servant handed him a letter. “A letter from Coran Dmitryev asking you to come and visit him on a matter of great importance delating to Matthew Holt and his betrothed. 

“What?” The man asked, tired. “What can they want with me?”

After getting his coat, Shiro took a carriage to his friend’s house. The sun hadn’t even risen yet. He found Coran waiting by the door, fretting. “Shiro, old friend I'm sorry it's late, I'm sorry I haven't seen you about. Where have you been? Where have you been?”

“I have been… studying…” he said, too ashamed to admit to Coran that he’d been getting drunk and partying. 

“Shiro old friend, we need your help. Please, Shiro: the royal family’s name! We need your help  We need your help! There's ruin at the door!”

“Coran?” Shiro asked quietly, afraid of what happened. 

He gulped. “Allura has let down the family.”

“What?” Shiro asked, confused. 

“Allura has broken with Matt,” he said, shaking his head. 

That made no sense to Shiro. “What?”

“Allura has tried to elope,” Coran told him, closing his eyes. 

Oh. _Oh_. “What?”

“Allura, and Lotor Kuragin!” Coran told him, panicking. 

“WHAT?!”

“We need your help, weneed your help!” The red headed man muttered. “There's ruin at the door!”

Allura, that charming girl?Shiro couldn’t believe his ears. So he was not the only one chained to a bad person after all. “Lotor, that stupid child! They'll lock him up for years. Lotor is a married man!”

“Married?” Coran said, startled. “He's married?”

“Yes,” Shiro nodded.

The king’s friend shook his head. “Oh, wait 'til I tell her…”

“Poor Matt,” the Japanese man felt bad for his friend. He gushed about Allura all day and all night, in his letters, for some reason it stirred jealousy inside of him, and Shiro found poetry written by the prince. About her and how perfect she was. He would be devastated. 

It seemed to remind Coran of something. “And when Matt comes home, he will challenge Lotor to a duel and get himself killed. All will be ruined,” he put his finger in Shiro’s chest. “You must go see your dear friend,” Coran scoffed at the words. “Tell him that he must leave, and not dare to let me set my eyes on him again!”

The other man nodded. “At once.”


	22. Find Lotor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro searches for Lotor.

Shiro couldn’t Lotor. The blood rushed to his heart making it difficult to breathe. If Matt found him first…

 

He was at the ice hills.

 

Shiro checked Zethrid’s house, but he wasn’t there either. (Ezor was though. And why was she wearing a really nice dress, like she was trying to impress someone? Strange.)

 

He wasn’t at Acxa’s either. It was the first place Shiro thought Lotor would stay at. 

 

He was probably at the Club. Shiro took his carriage there. 

But at the Club, everything going on was usual. The members eat their dinners and gossip in small groups. 

 

“Have I heard of Kuragin's abduction?” A young woman asked. “Is it true, Allura is ruined?”

 

“Nonsense, nonsense,” Shiro assured her. “Nothing has happened. Everything is fine!”

* * *

“Allura… Allura…” Lotor cried into his pillow. He wanted to be her husband. He realized that. But maybe all she felt for him was pure lust, and realized this, telling her godfather since she didn’t want to marry him. Karma is a bitch. “It is essential that I see Allura. How can I see her?”

 

Adam handed his friend a mug of hot chocolate. “It wouldn’t have worked out, Lotor. You know how you are with women.”

 

Maybe he was right. Maybe he would’ve been unfaithful to her anyways. “That’s for letting me stay at your home…”

  


* * *

  
“What? What?” Allura stared into Coran’s eyes in pain. “I don't believe that he is married. I don't believe you!” She stared at him like a hunted wounded animal. “He can't be married!”

* * *

  
Shiro gave up, and went back to his home. He couldn’t find him anywhere. When he opened the door, his servant created him. “Good evening, sir. Prince Lotor is in the drawing room with the your husband.”

 

Oh. Oh that sneaky, son of a bitch. Shiro’s hatred for Adam grew, as the opposite happened for his husband. He stormed in, absolutely pissed. 

 

“Ah, Shiro, love!" Adam ran up to him, throwing his arms around his husband’s neck. Maybe if he started acting like a better husband, Shiro would forgive him. “You don't know what a plight our Lotor has had.”

 

“Be quiet!” He absolutely refused to greet him. “I don’t know you anymore. You are more repulsive to me than ever before!”

 

Adam lowered his arms, regret and sadness filling his features. Shiro didn’t notice. If he had, maybe things would’ve been different. But at that moment, Adam knew that his marriage was officially over, and he had lost the man he loved forever. All because of one stupid fight that could’ve been resolved. 

“Lotor, come with me now,” he told him, anger clawing in his chest. “Lotor, must speak to you.”

 

Lotor followed with his usual jaunty step, but his face betrayed anxiety. Shiro closed the door and addressed Lotor without looking at him. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah what Allura/Natasha felt was lust, not love.


	23. Shiro and Lotor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro confronts Lotor. Allura drinks poison.

Allura set out the bottle of arsenic she’s purchased after sneaking out during the night (Coran kept close surveillance on her, but Lance was too busy planning his wedding with Keith, now back from Earth with his Dad). Allura was ruined, if anyone found out about the affair, she wouldn’t be trusted to rule as queen. No man would want to marry an unfaithful woman. And she was humiliated beyond imagination; Lotor was a married man. She uncapped the poison, smelling it a bit. 

* * *

Shiro shut the door to his study. Speaking in a harsh tone, he practically growled at Lotor. “You promised Princess Rostova to marry her and were about to elope, is that so?

“ _Mon cher_ ,” The prince cleared his throat. “I don't consider myself bound to answer questions put to me in that tone.”

Shiro’s face, already pale, becomes distorted by fury. He seized Lotor by the collar with his big, big hands, muscles bulging, he shake the smaller man from side to side until he showed a sufficient degree of terror. “When I tell you I must talk to you, you will answer!”

“Come now, this is stupid!” Lotor falsely laughed, flinching when Shiro made like he would shake him again. “What what, don't don't!”

“You're a scoundrel and a blackguard. I don't know what deprives me of the pleasure of smashing your head in with this!” Shiro picked up a paperweight, making sure Lotor sufficiently thought he was actually throw it at him, then put it down. “Did you promise to marry her?”

“I didn't think of it. I never promised, because-"

“Have you any letters of hers? Any letters?” Lotor shook his head, gulping. “I shan't be violent, don't be afraid.” Lotor remembered the shaking and the paperweight, not believing him, but putting down a thick pack of letters, regardless. “First, the letters. Second, tomorrow you must get out of Altea.”

Lotor looked breathless, obviously angry. “But how can I?”

Shiro ignored him. “Third, you must never breathe a word of what has happened between you and the Princess.” He placed him hand under his chin. “Now I know I can't prevent your doing so, but if you have a spark of conscience…” 

He sat up, pacing the room several times in silence. Lotor sat at a table frowning and biting his lip. 

“After all, you must understand that besides your pleasure, there is such a thing as other people and their happiness and peace, and that you are ruining a whole life for the sake of amusing yourself!” Shiro’s cheeks became red as the Japanese man yelled at the quivering, purple galran prince. “Amuse yourself with women like my husband, but female. With them, you're within your rights,” he shook his head amgrily. “But to promise a young girl to marry her- to deceive, to kidnap!” He growled at him. “Don't you understand that that's as cruel as beating an old man or a child?”

“Well, I don't know about that.  I don't know that and I don't want to,” Lotor gulped, fear causing him to shake. “But you have used such words to me. ‘Scoundrel’ and so on, which as a man of honor, I will not allow anyone to use-"

“Is it satisfaction you want?” Shiro asked, interrupting him. 

“You could at least take back your words, eh?” He laughed without humor, trying to take control of the situation in some way. He’d never been treated like this before. “If you want me to do as you wish?”

* * *

Allura tipped the arsenic into her throat, coughing as she forced it down. She screamed in pain, dropping the bottle. It shattered into many tiny pieces as she faintly heard footsteps in the distance.

* * *

 

“Fine, I take them back, I take them back!” Shiro grunted non-enthusiastically, but he wanted to make sure Lotor didn’t die and Matt didn’t die. “And I ask you to forgive me. If you require money for your journey-"  
  
Lotor smiled. The reflection of that base and cringing smile, which Shiro knew so well in his husband, revolted him. “Oh, vile and heartless brood!”

The next day, Lotor left for the Balmera. 


	24. Allura Very Ill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura tells Lance about her suicide attempt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but it’s a short song.

Allura was very ill, and the whole house was in a state of alarm and commotion.

 

She was very ill, having poisoned herself with a bit of arsenic. Lance heard her screaming, and begged her to tell him what happened, but she refused until he started sobbing into her dress and babbling his goodbyes. So she told him what she she had done. 

 

Lance told Coran, and they rushed her to a hospital. The doctors immediately began giving her the antidotes, and now she was out of danger. But she was still so weak. 

  
Matt was to return to Altea soon, and the Rostov’s (and **(Peggy)** Coran) were waiting with dread. 

 


	25. Shiro and Matt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt visits Shiro.

Hearing a knock at his door, Shiro got up and opened it. His friend had a long scar across his cheek and eyes downcast. “Well, how are you?”

“There's a scar on your cheek, old friend,” he pointed out, then pointing to his own nose. Matt didn’t laugh like Shiro expected him to. Instead, he just threw himself in Shiro’s arms. Shocked and not knowing how to react, he slowly hugged him back. 

“It's good to see you,” Matt muttered into Shiro’s chest, resting his face on it. “I've been away too long.”

“My friend, you are in need of some help,” he smiled at the other man. “Your face is gloomy.”

“No, I am well!” Matt jumped up in false excitement. “There's a war going on. Forgive me for troubling you, but I have received a refusal from Princess Rostova, and have heard reports of your friend having sought her hand, or something of that kind  Is this true?”

His hazel eyes looked hopeful, as if begging for it to be wrong. Shiro knew how much he loved Allura, how he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the universe, and how important marrying her was to him. Shiro wished he didn’t have to tell him the truth. “Something of that kind…”

He looked down in disappointment, crossing his arms. “I burned all her letters to me when I found out that she had refused me…”

“Allura is ill,” Shiro informed him. “She has been at death's door.”

“I much regret her illness,” Matt told him, andhe smiled like his father, coldly, maliciously. But his eyes looked betrayed and hurt. “Well, it doesn't matter.”

“You told me once,” the other man  started, grasping at straws as he tried to mend their relationship even a little. “A fallen woman should be forgiven.”  
  
 _“_ But I didn't say that I could forgive,” he bit his lips, tears swelling in his eyes. “I can't. Yes, ask her hand again. Be magnanimous, and so on.Yes, that would be very noble! But I can't be that man… so if you wish to be my friend, never speak of that again,” He turned away. No one needed to now how much he cried when he read that Allura was refusing him, how he stayed up for hours reading every single word she’d written to him. How he made a small fire, sobbing as he dumped all of them into the flames. Men shouldn’t cry because a girl broke up with him. “Well, goodbye.”

After Matt had left, Shiro thought it best to tell Allura the news, despite how angry at her he was for being unfaithful to his friend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i ship Shatt a lot, so take it as you will.


	26. Shiro and Allura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro visits Allura.

Allura was standing in the middle of the drawing room with a pale, yet steady face. When Shiro appeared in the doorway, she grew flustered and he hurried to her. The man had thought that she would give himm her hand, but instead she stopped. Breathing heavily, her thin arms hanging lifelessly, just in the very pose she used to stand in as a young girl when she went to the middle of the ballroom to sing. But the look on her face was quite different. 

Allura wouldn’t meet his eyes, looking down and addressing him as if she was merely a servant. “Takashi Shirogane…”

“Shiro,” he told her, informing her use a more familiar name. 

She cleared her throat. “Prince Holt was your friend-" Allura cursed herself internally. He wasn’t dead. “He is your friend. He once told me that I should turn to you…”

Shiri sniffed as he looked at her, but he didn't speak. Until then he had reproached her, and tried to despise her, but now he felt such pity for her. That there was no room in his soul for reproach. 

“He is here now. Tell him to… tell him to forgive me,” she closed her eyes, not permitting herself to look at him. 

“Yes, I will tell him to forgive you,” Shiro began. “But, he told me that he has burned your letters-"

Allura covered her mouth and nose with her hand, blinking away tears until she removed her hand slowly. “No, I know that all is over! I know that it never can be… But I'm tormented by the wrongs I've done him  Tell him that I beg him to forgive,” her throat felt clogged. “Forgive me for everything that I have done.”  
  
 _“_ Yes I will tell him, tell him everything. But… but I should like to know one thing,” took a deep breath. “Did you love… did you love that bad man?”

“Don't call him bad,” she whispered quietly. “But I don't know, I don't know at all.” She began to cry. 

  
A greater sense of pity, tenderness, and… love… overflowed Shiro's heart. He felt the tears begin to trickle underneath his spectacles, and he hoped that no one would see. “We won't speak of it anymore  We won't speak of it, my dear,” he hugged her, feeling his heart being as she let herself be comforted by him. Shiro pushes her away gently, resting his hands on her shoulders. “But one thing I beg of you, consider me your friend. And if you ever need help, or simply to open your heart to someone- not now, but when your mind is clear. Think of me.” He smiled at her, confusion growing in him. The feeling he had for this young girl- no, woman, she’d grown up since Lotor- was so similar to the way he felt for Adam at the beginning of their relationship. 

“Don't speak to me like that,” she started to uncontrollably sob. “I am not worth it!”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Shiro yelled, startling her. “You have your whole life before you-"

“Before me?” She shook her head, a tear falling off her face and into the carpet. “No, all is over for me!”

“All over?” The man asked her softly, taking her hands into his and staring into her big blue eyes, her lonely blue eyes, feeling himself begin to blush. “If I were not myself, but the brightest, handsomest, best man on earth,” she stared back at him, confusion filling her features as he drew circles onto the top of her hand. “And if I were free… I would get down on my knees this minute, and ask you for your hand. And for your love.”

For the first time in many days, Allura began weep tears of gratitude, tears of tenderness, tears of thanks, and glancing at Shiro… Oh Shiro…

She left the room smiling. 

Restraining tears of tenderness, tears of joy which choked him, Shiro grinned, throwing his fur coat on his shoulders, giggling as he was unable to find the sleeves.   
  
Outside, his muscled, broad chest breathed in the air with great joy, despite the ten degrees of frost. 

And he got into his sleigh. 


	27. The Great Comet of 1812

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The great comet of 1812 was a sign of doom, but to Shiro, it was a token of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, I don’t do well with making up names, so we’re doing Russian places as Altean places.

Where to now? Where could Shiro go now? Not to the club, it wasn’t the place for him anymore, and not to pay calls.   
  
Mankind seemed to be so pitiful, so poor compared to that softened, grateful, last glance she gave Shiro through her tears.   
  
It was clear and cold. Above the dirty streets, above the black roofs, stretched the dark, starry sky. This vast firmament, open to his eyes wet with tears. 

There in the middle, above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides by stars shined The Great Comet of 1812; The Brilliant Comet of 1812.   
  
The comet said to portend untold horrors and the end of the world. But for Shiro, the comet brought no fear. No, he gazed at it joyfully.   
  
The bright star, having traced its parabola with inexpressible speed through immeasurable space, seems suddenly to have stopped-like an arrow piercing Altea, like it stopped for Shiro himself.   
  
It seems to him that this comet felt him, that it felt his softened and uplifted soul, and his newly melted heart now blossoming into a new life. 


End file.
